French Reading Skills for Research 1: Beginners

This course is one of our Academic Reading Skills and Language Courses for Durham University Researchers. Information including the schedule and fees can be found here. 

Prerequisites

• No prior study of French or French reading skills up to B1 of the Common European Framework (such as an AS-level or an equivalent qualification), subject to decision by LFA lead.

Aims

• to promote self-motivated study of French as a preliminary to, and as providing an essential tool for, research in the general field of History and other disciplines that require a reading knowledge of the French language.

Content

• Reading skills for academic French.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• On successful completion of the course students will be able to:
• demonstrate a knowledge and an understanding of the basic underlying French grammar;
• demonstrate a knowledge of vocabulary used in French general academic discourse in Arts and Humanities;
• demonstrate a knowledge of specialised French vocabulary used in their field of study.

Subject-specific Skills:

• On successful completion of the course students will be able to:
• extract relevant information and understand original written sources in French with the requisite aids such as dictionaries, grammars and commentaries to hand.
• acquire various reading strategies such as skimming and intensive reading
• make effective use of reference materials such as grammars and dictionaries (standard and online)
• use a range of language-learning techniques and skills by independently developing strategies to extend the lexis in their subject-area and their knowledge of grammar
• translate short passages of academic or scholarly French writing into English

Key Skills:

• At the end of the course students will have enhanced their ability to:
• work as independent learners and researchers
• use reference materials
• apply reading skills and strategies effectively for academic purposes

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• This module is delivered through seminar style classes and one-to-one tutorials.
• There will be one 2-hour seminar per week for 9 weeks.
• Contact time will be used to introduce grammar, vocabulary building and reading strategies and be structured around reading, formative tasks and engagement by the teacher with questions and problems raised by the students and arising from their private study. The emphasis will be on pair / group work in class.
• In preparation for each session students will be expected to revise new material and complete formative language exercises, such as reading tasks or the translation of short passages, and appropriate to the progressive learning of the language.